whether Iustification Adoption and Glorification be Acts of God's Free Grace which I affirm but whether iâ—…â—…eased God to leave himself at liberty to justifie the Unbeliever while such and glorifie the Unbelieving and Wicked and also to damn the penitent godly Believer This Mr. C. affirms and I deny This is these mens Free Grace while they deny the Gospel-Rule and Law 8. It is not whether God hath as to us absolutely promised and coveâ—…nted with Christ that the Elect shall believe and all men believing be pardoned and so persevere in Faith and Holiness to Eternal Life which I affirm but whether there is a Covenant which require our true believing Consent to the Terms of it as â—… Conâ—…tion of Pardon and Glory and supposeth this true Consent in the actual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…f thâ—…se Benefits This Mr. C. denies and I affirm 9. It is not whether â—…uth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only Grace by which we receive and rest on Christ and his Righteousness for Iustification and that it is Christ received by Faith doth justifie which is the Sence of Protestants when they say we are justified by Faith alone this I affirm but whether he that can truly believe to Iustification must be in part a convinced humbled penitent Sinner This I affirm and Mr. C. denies yea he saith that Pardon is rather the Condition of Faith nay Pardon is the Cause of Faith 10. It is not whether Sanctification taken strictly do follow Iustification this I affirm but whether Effectual Vocation make a real habitual change in the Soul and that this Vocation is in order of Nature before Iustification This Mr. C. and the Letter c. deny and I affirm with the Assembly 11. It is not whether our sincere Faith Love c. are imperfect and so can be no meriting Righteousness which I affirm but whether they are disobedienâ—… even in Gospel Account and so incapable of being the Conditions of any of its promised saving Benefits This Mr. C. affirms and I deny These are some of the Points wherein Mr. C. and I differ I fear I shall find him in all things of Dr. Crisp's opinion as I have assurance he is in his Definition of Faith May not I now expect that People that rail at me will impute to me only what I thus plainly state The Body of well-esteemed Authors are on my side there 's an end to our Ministry if these be not true most of the practical Books we have as Allen c. are all Lyes and tending to ruine Souls if Mr. C. judge aright Thou wilt find in this Book Testimonies cogent to my purpose and if it will serve Mr. C. to say I wrest them and men there upon believe him I cannot help it Such as I quoted in my first Book ' are truly quoted and serve fully to what I produce them for but to reconcile all men to themselves is not my Work and yet I think it no hard matter to evidence that none of my Authors speak against my Assertions Mr. C. saith I am against the Articles of the Church of England and the Assembly I am sure he 'l never prove it and I profess the contrary and am certain he is against all Confessions of Faith that we own as Orthodox How far other Ministers are concerned for the Kingdom of Christ the Safety of Souls the Rule of Iudgment the plain Gospel way of Salvation to Sinners the truth and scope of their Ministry Time will evidence But in the strength of Christ I 'll sustain the utmost Persecution at the Hands of these angry men and while God enableth me they shall not overturn the Gospel by their unscriptural Abuse of the blessed Names of the Righteousness of Christ and Free Grace the Gospel way of the application whereof and a subservient Ministry being the whole I contend for I have oft attempted to adjust these things before I engaged nay since the severe Treatment I have met with I sent to Mr. Ch. that I would meet him and shew how much he mistook my Principles or if he refused a meeting I would send him an account in Writing that he might not abuse himself and the World but he would accept of neither as if he could not write without the Question were mistated Yea at the request of the united Brethren I agreed to suspend this Book if he would do so with his but this he refused Now whatever be the Consequences of these Debates I am innocent and commit all to God in whose Cause I though sickly weak and unworthy am engaged There is a Mystery in it that the Explication of one Text should be pretended by some for a Reason against my whole Book and so countenance all Dr. Crisp's Errors which yet they profess to dislike and the Impartial see I oppose nothing but those Errors The Doctrine of Imputation being still by Mr. C. c. objected against me though I have not yet had opportunity to insist thereon I will state that case 1. It is not whether Christ was a publick person as a Mediator in his Undertakings and so transacted all for Sinners that they might be pardoned and saved by his undertaken Satisfaction and Merits this I affirm but whether we were so represented in Christ â—…s that we were in Law sence they that undertook to atone and merit This I deny 2. Nor whether Christ was a Surety for us in a Bond of his own to pay our Debt to the full and much more that we might in a due time and way be released this I affirm but whether we were joynt-parties in one and the same Bond with him and so we were actually acquitted when he made Satisfaction and therefore God could enjoyn no Terms of the application thereof to us for Iustification and Glory nor suspend the same upon those Terms This I deny 3. Nor whether Christ was made under the Law and that this was one Article of his part in the Covenant of Redemption viz. That he should in a way of proper Satisfaction bear the substance of the Penalty of the Law and yield perfect Obedience to all such of its Precepts as were competent to his Person and this to save thâ—… Elect this I affirm but whether Christ was joynt-Covenant-Party with all the Elect in Adam's Covenant so that they were legally esteemed to make satisfaction and yield perfect Obedience in his doing thereof This I deny 4. Nor whether Christ's Righteousness is imputed to Believers and so made theirs that it is applyed to them and pleadable by them as what was always designed and undertaken for their Salvation and is the sole meritorious Cause of their Pardon Acceptance and Glory and this as effectually as if they themselves had satisfied and merited and this Righteousness is reputed by God as that which now pleads for their Impunity Acceptance and Happiness as Members of Christ All this I affirm but whether it be imputed as our formal Righteousness and so we may truly plead that
is only a causa sine qua non which is no Cause 2. Or that his Righteousness is not the sole meritorious or material Cause of our Pardon which in judicial acts are the same 3. Or that Christ's Sufferings are not immediately applied to our Pardon 4. Or that Pardon is by any act of ours as a joynt meritorious Cause with Christ each of which I hope the following Passages will clear me in P. 16. I affirm When we are pardoned the whole meritorious Cause of Pardon is the Atonement of Christ and what is required of Sinners is only a meetness to receive the Effects of it P. 39. I affirm That Justification and all other Benefits be the Fruits of Christ's Righteousness as the only meritorious Cause of them P. 40. We are for the sake of Christ's Righteousness delivered from the guilt of Sin and entituled to Life and accepted with God against all excluding Bars P. 41. Christ was he by whose Merits he forgives us but he never was forgiven we are forgiven and never had Merits of our own to forgive our selves And it 's enough that we were pardoned and adopted for his sake when we deserved endless Woe and are never capable of making the least atonement P. 43. Faith owns the Foundation of our Plea to be in Christ from whom are derived to us that Pardon and Right to Life which are the effects of his Righteousness for this we are justified for that Righteousness which is in Christ we are acquitted and adopted the efficient Merit is in him the Effect of the judicial Absolution for that Merit is in us The Righteousness is still in Christ for the sake whereof we are absolved or justified God hath for Christ's sake forgiven us but not for the sake of what is in ourselves c. and now being absolved or made righteous in a Law sence we have as much matter of glorying as absolved acquitted Sinners can have We are justified by his Righteousness that is for that we are forgiven and also entituled to Life which we had forfeited our selves but we are not made innocent nor so esteemed we are not accounted them who made the atonement we still take hold of Christ's Righteousness that by it we may be forgiven and this is our Blessedness and our Gospel-Righteousness which all such refuse who reject Redeeming Love from a Conceit of their own Merits or refuse the Terms of the Gospel which by the Promise do make us capable of being justified and saved for the Merits of Christ yet these still remain his Merits though thus beneficial to us in their Application as the procuring cause of all our Good P. 44. We still need Pardon and continue justified by the efficacy of the Righteousness of another and must look to Christ as the only Subject of it all our days Our justified state is a continuance of the blessed Effects of the Righteousness of Christ from first to last that Cause is still productive of Supplies as our Guilt returns or Necessities and Capacities renew or grow but our Redemption is ever in Christ. P. 249. Pardon is not the Effect of those Graces but of the Promise in the Virtue of Christ's Blood or of his Blood applied for Forgiveness by the Promise Reader if thou regardest Truth dost not thou find Christ's Sufferings to be a real Cause of Pardon a sole meritorious or material Cause all other Causes of that kind excluded and these Sufferings and Christ's Righteousness immediately applied See p. 247. We are justified only by Christ's Merits as the sole procuring Cause or Righteousness for which we are justified V. Mr. C. p. 21. The use of Christ's Sufferings is to compound with God for Sinners upon the account of the Old Law and put a Bar upon his Proceedings according to that and procure another Law by the Righteousness whereof we are justified which Righteousness is our own inherent Righteousness and not Christs And p. 30. Faith doth not justifie us by applying Christ's Righteousness c. but by its own Vertue as being a Righteousness it self c. but Christ's Righteousness hath nothing to do here it 's our own Faith and Repentance is the Righteousness in conformity to the Rule of Promise and that 's Latin for the New Law So p. 15. We are not at all entituled to this Blessing by Christ but by our own Obedience you mean c. Repl. I am represented as if I thought 1. That Christ served only to excuse us from perfect Obedience but that our Pardon and Glory given by the Promise were not the immediate Effects of his Merits 2. That he merited only that we might merit by our Faith 3. That our Faith and Repentance are the meritorious Cause of our Pardon and Glory by the New Law and so that Gospel-Conditions are of the same use to our Justification as Works were under the Law that is to be the Righteousness for which we are justified and saved All which I disown and expresly declare 1. That Christ hath satisfied Justice and merited Pardon and Glory these have their Being only on his account and he hath a Right to give them 2. When the Sinner partakes of these Mercies he partakes of them as the fruits of his Death and for his sake 3. God in Christ as our Ruler hath declared a Way and Order how he will dispense these Benefits to us and enjoyns our compliance with that Order If we believe tho' Faith be his Gift he will forgive for Christ's sake otherwise he declares he will not 4. Gospel-Conditions have no other use to our Interest in these Benefits than a complyance with this stated Rule of the Distribution of Pardon and Glory which are merited by Christ and given only for his sake This is my plain meaning in all he hath objected against consult my words in the Epistle and what I have repeated in the last Head and these following in my Book Cap. 7. p. 39. I affirm That Christ by his Righteousness merited for all the Elect that they should in his time and way be certainly partakers of its Saving Effects and did not only purchase a conditional Grant of those Effects viz. that Proposition He that believeth shall be saved P. 1. I affirm The whole meritorious Cause and Price of Justification Adoption and Eternal Life were perfect when Christ finished the Work of Satisfaction Cap. 3 p. 16. I affirm That when we are pardoned the whole meritorious Cause of that Pardon is that atonement and what is required of Sinners is only a Meetness to receive the Effects of it Cap. 10. p. 84. I deny that preparatory Qualifications do merit True Grace and that Faith or Repentance do merit an Interest in Christ. I say their whole use depends on Christ's Ordination P. 45. we are reputed righteous for the sake of what Christ did and not for the merit of what we have done P. 61. I deny the performance of the Conditions of the Covenant to be
of Christ. I have already instanced that I denied any Grace or Work to be any Cause at all 9th Head also that Christ's Righteousness is the sole meritorious Cause or Matter of our Justification which is imputed to us 4 5 6 Heads and that our Works follow Faith and Pardon and neither Faith nor Works are any Price Atonement or moving or procuring Cause 6 11 Heads and elsewhere yea and that we are to renounce a Thought of this Do I then oppose Christ or compare any Holiness with him I shall add Cap. 19. p. 198. I own we should esteem the sincere Holiness of a Believer's Heart and Actions to be Dung if compared with Christ as meritorious of Justification And p. 202. Who must not own that compared with Christ the best thing in us is vile yea compared with his Righteousness And p. 210. We must teach the best man to renounce all the Grace he hath and Good he doth as it being the least atonement for Sin or least purchase of Life or any addition of Merit to Christ or sharing in what is peculiar to him And Cap. 21. p. 225. I condemn any that preach that our best Obedience doth not deserve Wrath by the Law or that it doth not need Forgiveness or is any Supplement of Christ's Righteousness yea or to neglect to call men to renounce all in themselves as any atonement for Sin or cause of Pardon and that we must look to Christ as the only Propitiation Purchaser of all our Blessings and Cause of the acceptance of our Persons and Performances Reader I have given thee a few of those many places Having finish'd this first point propos'd I will appeal to thy Conscience whether I can with any shadow of Justice be charged with those Principles which this Brother fixeth upon me I hope he did not wilfully expose me in the face of such Evidence The words in my Preface lead not to the least suspicion yea are positive to the contrary and therefore how he saith this is my sence when I must not only equivocate but grosly contradict my self and that in places where I state the Question must encrease the Wonder Neither is there the least pretence except that I assert that though Pardon and Salvation are all Free Gifts and the Merits of Christ are imputed as the sole meritorious Cause of all yet God as our Ruler hath appointed a Method in the Gospel for the dispensing of them and doth confer them in that Method and ordains a Gospel-Ministry in a consistency therewith and in a subserviency thereto This Scheme any man may see in my very Preface and morethrough the whole Book 2. I shall attempt if possible to make my sence intelligible to the most vulgar Apprehension to this end I premise 1. God may be considered in his Dispensations towards fallen men as a meer Proprietor and Benefactor and not as Rector or Ruler and so men must be considered meerly as Creature-Objects of his Benefits and not at all as rational Subjects to be now governed and hereafter judged If you look at God thus absolutely conferring Benefits then the way is this He eternally elects to Glory a certain number of men whom he sore saw undone by Adam's Fall he appoints his Son to undertake their recovery as the sole covenanting Party with him in the Covenant of Redemption he was to satisfie Justice merit Glory and make them physically meet for it This is all true and sometimes prophetically declared thus and the event as to the Elect is as certain as if God dealt no otherwise with Man on this side Death But if this be the whole Method of GOD with Men as some account it how much of the Bible is unintelligible and vain how much is contradicted and a great part of God's manifold Wisdom obscured and denied which shines forth in his present Paternal Dominion as Redeemer 2. God may be considered as a Ruler Proprietor and Benefactor conjunctly We may look at him as communicating his Benefits in a way of Government and that in many things not exclusive of his absolute Propriety That this is his Method I have proved in my Book Cap. 8 13 20. and other Chapters and may hereafter more confirm it Herein God connects Benefits with Duties offers Pardon and Glory upon Terms deals with Men as Subjects whom he now governs and will hereafter judge without respect of Persons and to that end hath set down his Rules by which he now sentenceâ—…h by the Word and will at the great day do it by the Person of Christ all which suppose Christ's Merits and the Ability to obey and Benefits given for his sake alone It 's true he discovers his absolute Propriety in not giving the same Means or the same internal Grace to all which will no doubt fully appear to be equal He doth also discover himself peculiarly beneficent to his Elect for whom Christ merited all and infallibly brings about his purpose concerning them by making them obedient to the Conditions of whatever saving Benefits his Gospel promiseth upon Conditions But yet he dispenseth the promised Benefits as a just Rector or Ruler according to the Offers made to all Pursuant hereto our Ministry is appointed to propose Blessings to all in the same way and upon the same Terms and to assure all that upon those Terms and no other they shall obtain those Benefits for the sake of Christ. Can any think we dare make the same Offers to the Devils as to every man or to the Damned as we can to all men alive Dare we say to them after Death If you will now believe you shall yet be saved turn now and you shall yet live On the other hand dare we say to an Elect Unbeliever if we knew him Elect thou shalt be forgiven though thou dost not believe thy Unbelief is no Bar to thy Salvation by any Threatning of God declared against thee Is Sentence past on all men in Adam or on the Elect in Christ's Person that God deals with neither in a way of Government as in any state of Trial for Eternity There 's an end of that Preaching which God hath fitted and most blessed to the conversion of Souls if this be true Mr. Chancy's Father in Doct. of Iustific p. 117. Mind you your Duty God hath ordained the End with the Means and therefore though it were revealed to thee from Heaven that thou shalt certainly be saved yet I might truly say to thee except thou believe and repent thou shalt perish c. The Offer of Christ in the Gospel this shews what he would have us to do even to repent and believe Mr. Norton Orth. Evang. shews They might say to a Judas If thou believe thou shalt be saved and to a John If thou believe not thou shalt be damned p. 89 90. Having premised these things I shall familiarly deliver my real Thoughts as to what men ignorantly accuse me of and pitch upon Forgiveness of
down to a Promise He calls it a Promise but his Dominion renders the Term enjoyned a Duty and so be raiseth up the Promise to a Law The word Covenant implies the certain performance on his part in the way he sets down and our restipulation to that way In the very word Testament as he notes the ratification of the Covenant by Christ's Death so it excludes not the appointed Condition of the Legatees to whom he makes a disposition of the Benefits So that the Word the Law of Grace or the Law of Faith is no other than the Covenant of Grace the Gospel-Promise of Salvation the Testament of Christ or the Word of the Gospel or the Gospel it self Whereas Mr. C. exposeth it as a New Gospel and New Law it 's the first Gospel GOD delivered to Men for he never promised to give Glory by Christ to any unbelieving impenitent person A new Law indeed it is as being a little younger than the Law of Innocency which condemns for the least Sin and gives Life to none but the Perfect by which Law no man but Christ was ever justified and by whose answering it for us we shall be justified in a Gospel-way But yet it is a Law older than Cain or Abel otherwise Abel's Sacrifice had been no more acceptable than Cain's which by Faith it was and which Faith in Christ must have been commanded as well as the Sacrifice though the brief account which Moses gives of above two thousand years doth not express it nor was it needful Yea God's Words to Cain imply it as Mr. Ball on Covenant p. 43. saith These are a Promise of the Covenant that took place after the Fall 2. I do not say the Gospel is a Law in the following sence 1. I do not say that the Gospel includes nothing besides this Law it gives us an account of the Covenant of Redemption and the absolute Promises There be many Prophecies the History of our Blessed Lord c. Doctrinal Truths Prophecies c. yet these may be called Adjuncts 2. Nor do I judge it a Law in that sence our Divines fix on the Socinians and Arminians viz. as if Acts of Obedience to this Law are the Righteousness for which we are justified or saved as Perfect Obedience was under the Law of Adam This I deny for we have no Righteousness for which we are justified or saved but Christ's and the Fruits of that are we blessed with upon complying with the Gospel Our Faith or inherent Righteousness c. are not the paying a Farthing of Debt to the Creditor but our submitting to that way by which we have Forgiveness of all the Debt and are Partakers of Glory both which God had in his Eye as to be purchased by Christ before he fixed on this way for our obtaining them 3. Nor do I take it in the Popish sence which the Socinians and Arminians espouse but true Protestants oppose viz. as if the moral Law were not perfect in its kind but that the spiritual extensive sence of the Precepts were new Precepts of our Lord and that the Old Testament did not include the Gospel-Precepts of Faith in Christ and Repentance for Pardon as well as the New though it did not discover the Objects and Motives c. so clearly 4. It is not a Law that supposeth a moral ability in Sinners to perform its Precepts that was necessary in God's Dealings with Men as his Creatures just come out of his Hand but not so when he deals with Man about his recovery when he had virtually sinned in Adam forfeited all yea had undone himself Whatever Mr. C. saith p. 23. I affirm if the Subject be rational or have natural Power If such Ability comes so with this Law that the Elect are made effectually able and others are wilfully faulty if they finally rebel it 's enough to justifie the Divine Order Will not and cannot are distinct things with Mr. Fenner in his Book of Wilful Impenitency Yea with D. Owens on Ps. 130. p. 248. 5. It is not a Law that extinguisheth the Law of Nature which hath its special Precepts and which in genere upon Gospel Revelation requires what the Gospel requires and condemns for Faults against the special Precepts of the Gospel tho' it condemns not so as to bar the Relief which the Gospel affords nor promiseth Life upon those Terms which the Gospel doth The Gospel in a large sence takes the Law as subservient to its gracious designs tho' Mr. C. weakly infers p. 24 25. that therefore the whole Precept is hereby made the Condition 6. Neither doth this Law require any thing of us as a Condition of Christ's coming into the World as a Redeemer it supposeth that nor yet any Condition of the first Grace to the Elect. This the Covenant of Redemption secures and it is assured to the Catholick Church by Promise 8. Nor is it a Law Obedience whereto renders any promised Blessing a Debt All is free tho' sure It 's free as to Man's Procurement or Price yet it is as sure by Promise as if it were a Debt but the Price was Christ's Obedience and Sufferings and all comes to us of Gift yet in that way which God appoints to give it 2. I mean by the Gospel being a Law that God in Christ our Redeemer doth by the Gospel expresly command Sinners to receive Christ with a true operative Faith and promiseth that tho' they are condemned by Adam's Law yet upon their so believing they shall be united to Christ and justified by his Righteousness and that persevering in Faith by sincere Holiness they shall be saved for his sake He also threatens that if any shall dye unbelieving impenitent ungodly Rejecters of his Grace they shall be bar'd from these Benefits and they shall perish without relief and have sorer Punishments than if these gracious Offers had not been made to them This is the Law of Faith I 'll add one Caution to this Account which is too needful Give me but the Assemblies Description of Faith Conf. cap. 14. and I desire to use no word as expressive of the Terms of the Gospel besides Faith but men now define Faith by such a small part of it as requires Caution for the sake of Souls 1. Here we have all the Essentials of a Law God is our Ruler and we his Subjects his Will is revealed in a way of Government here 's his Precept which binds us to Duty here 's a Promise made to such as do comply and here 's a Threatning denounced against such as finally rebel Preach the Gospel to every Creature he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved he that believeth not shall be damned 2. Yet this is a Law of Grace it 's made by our Redeemer for fallen Man all the Benefits of it are founded on Christ's Righteousness as the immediate cause of them Effectual Ability to perform the Duty is provided for all
had not promised it upon believing Had Pardon come by an absolute Promise they acted very legally in believing that they might be pardoned Mr. C. may as justly say of them as of me They set up a new Gospel R. 7. The Gospel is at least part of the Rule by which Christ will judge the World at the last day That it must be a Law if it be a Rule of Judgment I suppose none will deny unless they 'l deny that Christ is a Judge The Work of that day is not to try Christ whether he fulfilled all 〈◊〉 Righteousness nor yet whether his Righteousness was impured to all that did believe but by solemn Sentence to decide the Cause of all men to silence all false Apologies and publickly adjudge all to their eternal place unto the Glory of Justice and Mercy That day supposeth all justified or not by the Gospel Christ then changeth no mans state the Godly stand there pardoned and entituled to Life by Christ's Righteousness imputed the Wicked are there without any Interest in Christ these wicked ones if they pretend to sinless Innocency they are cast upon the least Sin by the Law of Adam But if they plead God's general Mercy it will be evident that Mercy adjusted its Rule in the Gospel If they plead Hopes from Christ as a Redeemer and the Offers he made they are convinced by that Book that Christ saved none but such as repent and believe If they plead they did believe and profess his Name Christ will convince them that his Gospel required a true Faith operative in sincere and persevering Obedience the want whereof he will charge upon them as you see in Mat. cap. 7. cap. 22. 25 c. and so leaves them subject to the Law of Adam without Relief by the Gospel yea heightens their Condemnation for disobeying the Gospel But if they yet plead But Lord thou savest some that were Unbelievers as well as we at least they were not such Believers as did yield sincere Obedience This Plea Christ will confound by solemn Declaration of the true Faith and Sincerity of all them whom he now saves and so will evidence that his Judgment is without respect of persons and that his Righteousness is no Plea for any finally unbelieving ungodly Hypocrite whom his Gospel condemned If the Damned or Satan should plead But they were Sinners though not unbelieving Hypocrites the Answer of Christ will be I have satisfied the Law for them and so Justice cannot suffer by my washing them in my Blood nor hinder their being glorious for my sake I humbly think this is being judged according to our Works Rev. 20. 12 13. This is being justified by our Words Mat. 12. 37. And what Iames most intends Iam. 2. 24. I hope none can doubt but this proves the Gospel is part of the Rule of Judgment and it 's plain God will judge the Secrets of all Hearts by my Gospel Rom. 2. 16. And the word that I have spoken to you that shall judge you This is one of the Books that shall then be opened saith Mr. Ch. Father And how awful is that day when the closest Hypocrite will be discovered and yet the doubtful Christian adjudged sincere But blessed be God the Saints Plea will be managed by Christ himself Reader it 's hard reconciling the account we have of the Day of Judgment by any thing below what I have delivered and were not the Gospel to be a Rule of Judgment I cannot see how that could be a Iudgment-day it must be only an Execution-day for by the Law of Adam no Believer could be acquitted that Law must be altered by the Law-giver to admit a Satisfaction and it 's by the Gospel only he hath enacted the way how this Satisfaction shall be applied By that first Law these Unbelievers yea all men were condemned virtually in Adam when he was judged upon his Fall and that Sentence seized them as soon as they had a Being there needed no other It would help thy Thoughts if thou wilt accomodate some of the Circumstances of the last Judgment to them that shall be alive at that time I might multiply Arguments to prove the Gospel to be a Law Whatever proves the Covenant to be conditional proves the Gospel to be a Law Nothing keeps the most sincere Godliness or Act of a Saint here from being downright a Sin if the Gospel be no Law for they are not legally perfect and so are Sins I see not how any man can have grounded Hopes of Glory if the Gospel be no Law and they that deny it and say Faith is but a Sign must set up Works above Faith for they are more evidencing Signs than an internal Act of Faith Yea how can Christ be our King if his Gospel be no Law Many more might be added were there room but I shall omit the rest except what will occur in my Answer to Mr. C's Objections which follow I. Mr. C. objects p. 5. Whoever is justified by a Law is fallen from Grace Gal. 3. 11. It should be read a Law not the Law it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the emphatical Particle is not put in and so it 's every Law is excluded Repl. Upon such Cobwebs in the face of the plain scope of the Bible doth this Cause stand Where 's the Argument Because in a few places the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not put in therefore the Apostle excludes even every Law when he doth plainly exclude only one sort as appears by the whole Context Nay when he at the same time affirms another Species under that general Rom. 3. 27. But farther note 1. Where the Article is elsewhere omitted the word it refers to doth not exclude every sort of Law Rom. 2. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Will you render this For the Gentiles which have not a Law or not any Law the Article is wanting but sure they had some Law even the Law of Nature 2. Where the Article is wanting it doth not infer that every kind under the general word are alike intended Rom. 2. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is not there the written Mosaick Law set in opposition to the Law of Nature unwritten Yet the Article is wanting Rom. 5. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law was added Was it no special Law Sure there was some Law before So Gal. 4. 4. Gal. 3. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Iust shall live by Faith Is this any sort of Faith Will a temporary or historical Faith serve Yes by Mr. C's Rule 3. The Article is oft added to the word Law in the very Subject before us Gal. 3. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But the Law is not of Faith V. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is the Law against the Promises and v. 24. Rom. 10. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moses describeth the Righteousness which is of the Law 4. The Socinians evade the force of Ioh. 1. 1.